Messengers of Hope

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
21 February 2017, Tarakeswar
Bengali evening class, part 2

You must wear Tulasi beads on your neck, even the scientists say that wearing Tulasi beads has some good properties. Also, if you wear Tulasi neck beads, the yamaduts (messengers of the Lord of Death) cannot touch you.

You have heard the story of Ajamil. Ajamil was a son of a brahman, but he mixed with a lady of a low caste who used to sell alcohol and lost his brahman culture. He ended up marrying the girl and becoming a drunkard. Ajamil did not have only one-two sons from her—he had ten sons. When his tenth child was born, a sadhu came to his house, and Ajamil said to him, "O sadhu! You have come today to my house, and today I have got a son. Can you give him a name?" The sadhu called the child Narayan. So, Ajamil would all the time called out for Narayan, "Hey, Narayan, where did you go?", "Narayan, come here!" and so on.

When Ajamil was dying, messengers of Yama came to take him away. When a soul lives within a body, it never wants to leave that body, but it still has to go—yamaduts are sent to take the soul. The yamaduts look very fearsome—they have a long beard, big teeth, etc.

When the yamaduts came and said, "Come, it is time for you to go!" seeing him, Ajamil got frightened, he started calling out for his son, "Narayan! Come to me! Come here! I am so scared, I do not want to go! Narayan!" Out of fear he started calling his son, but the child's name was Narayan and it is a name of the Lord. What properties does the Name of the Lord have? When he called out the name Narayan, vishnuduts came there.

Vishnuduts said to the yamaduts, "Hey, go away! You cannot touch this body because he has called out to our Master."

"Who are you?"

"We are vishnuduts. Who are you?"

"Yamaduts."

"You must go," said the vishnuduts.

"Why must we go? Our Gurudev, Yama sent us here."

"If you do not believe us, go to your Guru and ask him."

So, the yamaduts went to Yamaraj (the Lord of Death) and he said to them, "Yes, what they said is correct. They are the messengers of my Guru (Vishnu). You must leave Ajamil alone because he remembered the shadow of the name of the Lord at the time of death."

That is why, the sadhus, Guru, Vaishnavs come to remind us that we are all Lord's children.

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

Maya (illusion) is created by the Lord.

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

"My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The Lord Himself says, "I have created maya (illusion), and you cannot conquer it." How is it possible to conquer it? The Lord Himself gives the answer, "I Myself rescue those who surrender to Me, who remember Me." So,

মায়ারে করিয়া জয় ছাড়ান না যায় ।
সাধু-গুরু কৃপা বিনা না দেখি উপায় ॥

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya
sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

If you want to overcome maya it is necessary to get the mercy of the sadhus and the Guru...

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